PANORA — The Panorama offense put two touchdowns in the board in the first half Friday, and the Panther defense made the score stand up for a 15-13 victory over Interstate-35.
Panorama (3-0) grabbed an 8-0 lead after one quarter of action thanks to a four-yard Luke South touchdown plunge and a Zach Rizzuti two-point conversion run.
Quarterback Dominic Walker squirted into the end zone from 10 yards away in the second period, with a Kyle Cogil PAT boot pushing the score to 15-0, where it remained until the intermission.
“Friday night was a tough game, as we expected,” Panorama head coach Mike Kauzlarich said. “We came out and jumped on I-35 and seemed to play the entire first half of the game in great field position. The second half was the flip of the field advantage story.
“It was a great game for our guys to show everything we have instilled in the last year and a half as a program,” he said. “Our guys battled and showed a tremendous amount of toughness and resiliency.”
The Roadrunners (1-2) scored on a 77-yard run in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 7-0, then added a TD in the fourth frame to make it 15-13, but the game-tying two-point conversion attempt failed, and the guests were unable to add to their total as time slowly drained away.
“Defensively we made some huge plays to continuously set our offense up with great opportunities to score,” Kauzlarich stated. “They reeled off one big run and score on a punt return, but besides that our defense really did not allow their offense to move the ball with much success.”
Walker hit 4-of-10 passes for just 17 yards. Eric Taylor (1-9), Lucas Leiferman (1-6) and South (2-2) had the receptions for the hosts.
Walker added 102 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, with South rushing 10 times for 17 yards and a score. Kade Kemble (7-3) and Rizzuti (1-1) also had carries for the Panthers.
Trent Hambleton had the sticky fingers on defense, coming away with three interceptions from his linebacker spot and totaling 70 return yards on the thefts. Brice Taylor fell on a fumble for the home team to add to the strong defensive effort.
Cooper Anderson’s 5.5 total tackles and five each from Hambleton and Wyatt Appleseth led Panorama.
The Panthers travel to Leon to face Central Decatur Friday. CD opened play in week zero with a 32-24 loss to Nodaway Valley, with a 34-6 loss to I-35 following. They topped Southwest Valley, 42-22, Sept. 6 before falling to Mt. Ayr, 49-14, Sept. 13.
“We are looking forward to next weeks match-up against Central Decatur,” Kauzlarich said. “They have a tough bunch of kids and are very well coached. They will play us very tough and we are going to prepare to continue to get better week in and week out!”
